Invitation to Tender. For a Consultant to lead the Community Green Spaces Project Development through the New Life on the Old West project

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1 Invitation to Tender For a Consultant to lead the Community Green Spaces Project Development through the New Life on the Old West project Procurement is being undertaken by Cambridgeshire ACRE Company limited by guarantee No Registered charity No Registered office: 72 Market Street, Ely, CB7 4LS VAT Registration No ITT preparation date: 14-Jul-2017

2 INTRODUCTION Cambridgeshire ACRE is managing the development stage of the New Life on the Old West project which is being funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project seeks to increase habitat connectivity across the landscape and connect local residents with their local natural heritage. During this development stage, we wish to contract a suitability qualified consultant to complete a short-term piece of work which will make proposals for the creation of a series of wildlife-friendly habitat improvements on community-owned and managed green spaces. THE COMMUNITY GREEN SPACES PROJECT Community green space is defined as any open space owned and managed by the Parish Council or through other community governance models such as a charity. Such spaces could include recreation fields, play areas, allotments, nature areas, grass areas, ponds, churchyards, dog walking areas, orchards and fields. All parishes have various green spaces available and part of the work is to explore the best options for developing better habitats for wildlife on land that is on the doorstep of residents and, therefore, publically accessible to all. Funding will provide resources for local work and various biodiversity specialists (aquatic plants; aquatic invertebrates; terrestrial invertebrates; pollinators; mammals; amphibians; reptiles and others) to support community voluntary efforts and activities across nine parishes. This provides great scope for public engagement in natural heritage, provision for learning, peer support and delivery of training to groups managing community green spaces. A separate activity stream within the overall project will give opportunity for citizen science and communities will be encouraged to monitor wildlife and report the findings to others. Sharing of data, techniques and ideas across parishes will be actively encouraged in order that a more diverse audience shall be exposed to, understand and value the significant local Fenland natural heritage. The project has five overall aims: 1. To design a series of small-scale habitat improvements on school grounds, village greens, churchyards, community orchards and similar community green spaces, together making local villages more wildlife-friendly and attractive, providing essential stepping stones within the landscape for species resilience. 2. To create demonstration sites on a diversity of community green spaces, helping people to learn about and connect with their green spaces and natural heritage, whilst raising awareness of the significance and distinctiveness of the local Fenland wildlife. 3. To support local community groups and schools to make the most of their outdoor spaces for wildlife and people, with targeted advisory and training services delivered through a network of conservation specialists within the partnership. 4. To train up local volunteering organisations, community and user groups in nature-friendly maintenance practices and techniques, transferring specialist skills to a local level and securing appropriate ongoing management and maintenance. 5. To engage schools to make stronger connections to the local area in their curriculum and embed the natural heritage of the Fenland area within their offer to pupils so that they can learn about their local natural environment, whilst also improving the understanding of opportunities for learning outside the classroom. 2

3 SPECIFICATION OF TASKS TO BE COMPLETED This development stage work needs to provide a comprehensive schedule of each green space site through undertaking a number of key tasks: 1. Map and assess potential of available public green space, advising on key priority sites, approaches to habitat improvement relating to the location, land ownership, other conflicting public uses, soils, and land type. 2. Prioritise and make recommendations for key demonstration sites that can be used to help people learn about Fenland s natural heritage. 3. Advise on nature-friendly maintenance practices and techniques that can be utilised by the community, how specialist skills will be used and transferred at a local level, as well as monitoring techniques/requirements for each site chosen. 4. Provide a profile of grant spending relating to allocation across the sites, key demonstration sites and community in-kind contributions expected from each Parish. 5. Work with site land owners, predominantly parish councils to discuss approaches and secure appropriate permissions needed for HLF stage two applications, including changes to management and legacy requirements for nature-friendly maintenance practices to be carried forward by land owners and local community volunteers when the project funding ends. 6. Work with Cambridgeshire ACRE, specialists and/or members of the Biodiversity Technical Group on sites with notable existing features, or where planned habitat enhancements are more complex. 7. Hold a briefing session (likely to be a day) for all partners and specialists to discuss overall findings, nature-friendly practices, demonstration sites and required community support. Please note Cambridgeshire ACRE will complete some of these tasks in combination the consultant. We welcome your views as to how this interaction should work. We also welcome your ideas if you believe there are more appropriate actions to developing the Green Spaces Project to those listed above. Upon completion of these tasks the expected output is a clear schedule for each green space recording and detailing all the above-required information in order to inform and provide a clear approach for the delivery phase of the project. The work must take into consideration all current legislation which would affect the project, including Nature Conservation, Health and Safety, Environmental Health, Licensing regulations, Disability Discrimination. EXPECTED METHODOLODY It is anticipated that the work will include both desk and field-based research. The process of community involvement and working with landowners is viewed as being of high importance in the production of the schedule of each site. Please therefore allow for time spent in the community in your costings. Cambridgeshire ACRE will provide support with community facilitation, site locations and contacts in each parish. Some work has already been undertaken working with parish councils and others to map and identify green space as a feasibility study in the project development phase. Some parish councils have provided a pledge to be involved as part of the stage one bid to the HLF and are ready to develop their ideas further working alongside the appointed consultant. 3

4 CONTRACT MANAGEMENT The contract for this work will be managed by Mark Nokkert, Programme Development Manager at Cambridgeshire ACRE, The nominated contact person on a daily basis will be the Senior Project Officer for the New Life on the Old West project at Cambridgeshire ACRE. The consultant will be expected to work closely with Cambridgeshire ACRE staff, providing regular updates and attending meetings to provide an overview of the work as it progresses. A half-day inception meeting will be held at the start of the project to discuss the work and provide for the development of an agreed workplan to guide the work, timing and expectations. Please allow time for this meeting and development of a workplan in your costings. TIMETABLE It is anticipated that this work will take around four months to complete. All work and any final outputs must be completed and handed over to Cambridgeshire ACRE by 31 October 2018 to allow time for the HLF stage two application to be developed. Please provide a summary of key milestones and completion dates covering the duration of the work. BUDGET The value of this contract is 9,600, which must include at VAT and expenses you incur. Cambridgeshire ACRE cannot exceed this amount. Please provide information on your daily rate, VAT and the number of days of time allocated to each of the six specified tasks to be undertaken as part of the work. PREPARATION OF TENDERS Tenders are expected to cover the following: Relevant experience and competency possessed to complete the work. Biographies of any staff that will complete the work. Examples of similar work completed successfully elsewhere. The methodology to be used for the development of each of the six key tasks and how the schedule for each site will be developed. Proposals for approaches to working with parish councils and engaging communities. A simple risk analysis of any issues or barriers foreseen in undertaking the work successfully. Full costs and expenses including information on daily rates, VAT and the amount of days of time allocated to each of the six key specific tasks to be undertaken as part of the work. 4

5 A breakdown of key milestones and their expected completion dates. Contact details of two people who are willing to provide references regarding similar work undertaken over the last 3 years. 5

6 SELECTION OF TENDERS Cambridgeshire ACRE has a formal Policy on Choosing Consultants, Contractors and Suppliers a copy of which is provided alongside this Invitation to Tender. Cambridgeshire ACRE will set a scoring system to allow it to determine and selecting the best value for money tender, with a panel of both staff and trustees involved in this process. Shortlisted consultants will be invited to an interview where a short presentation will be required detailing how the work will be undertaken. SUBMISSION OF TENDERS If you wish to discuss the requirements of the tender further, then please contact Mark Nokkert, Programme Development Manager on tel: or via at, mark.nokkert@cambsacre.org.uk. Please submit your tender (in MS Word or PDF format) by to Alison Brown, Head of Business Services at Cambridgeshire ACRE, by 12am on Sunday 24 June 2018 via alison.brown@cambsacre.org.uk. Late submissions will not be accepted. DATA PROTECTION Cambridgeshire ACRE has put measures in place to ensure it is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes into effect on 25 May Our Data Protection Policy (copy provided) sets out the measures with which all parties working on its behalf should comply. Any personal data shared by Cambridgeshire ACRE with the successful consultant must be handled in accordance with these measures. The GDPR states that we should only contract with a processor who can provide sufficient guarantees that the requirements of the GDPR will be met and the rights of data subjects protected. The successful consultant will therefore be asked to complete Cambridgeshire ACRE s Data Protection Third Party Processor Checklist as a way of providing the necessary assurances. 6